The invention relates to containers for storing and dispensing measured volumes of liquid.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,646,948 and 4,893,732 disclose containers having at least two chambers or compartments. One chamber acts as a reservoir for storing liquid and the other chamber is a measuring and dispensing chamber arranged to receive a predetermined volume of liquid from the reservoir chamber and then dispense or discharge that measured volume.
In both these prior patents liquid is transferred from the reservoir chamber to the measuring chamber by tilting the container from an upright position to pour liquid from the reservoir through a channel or over a ledge into the measuring and dispensing chamber. When the container is then returned to its original upright position, the predetermined volume of measured liquid remains in the measuring or dispensing chamber and can subsequently be dispensed therefrom. In the case of U.S. Pat. No. 4,464,948 a graduated scale is provided on a wall portion of the measuring chamber and, with said wall portion being transparent or translucent, the amount of liquid poured into the measuring chamber can be controlled by visually monitoring the poured volume on the graduated scale which requires delicate control of the manual tilting of the container. In the case of U.S. Pat. No. 4,464,948 the container can be tilted to overfill the measuring and dispensing chamber whereupon the container is returned to its initial upright position and excess liquid is returned through a small bore or bleed hole provided in the web or wall portion separating the measuring and dispensing chambers to provide an exact dosage of liquid in the measuring chamber for subsequent dispensing.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,599,446, 2,743,849, 3,141,574 and 3,347,420 are all concerned with containers for measuring discrete quantities of a liquid by transferring liquid from a storage chamber to a separate chamber by squeezing the storage chamber to force liquid through a transfer conduit to the separate chamber. However, in all embodiments disclosed in these four patents it is necessary to disassemble the container in order to fill the storage chamber. Disassembly is effected either by separating the chambers or by removing the transfer conduit.